•Says region faces $150bn annual energy investment deficit • Continent attracts only 3% of global energy capital • Calls for capacity building to develop next generation of industry talent Peter
***•******Says region faces $150bn annual energy investment deficit ***
• ***Continent attracts only 3% of ******global energy capital ***
• Calls for capacity building to develop next generation of industry talent
Peter Uzoho
More than 150 essential oil and gas projects across Africa have stalled due to an energy transition-induced retreat by international capital markets and development finance institutions, the Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG) has revealed.
Chairman of IPPG and Chief Executive Officer of Aradel Holdings Plc, Mr. Adegbite Falade, stated this while delivering the industry keynote at the opening of the ongoing Africa Oil Week (AOW) 2026 in Accra, Ghana, calling for urgent continent-wide action to unlock the region’s stranded hydrocarbon resources.
Falade said the funding gap comes at a time when Africa holds enormous hydrocarbon potential yet remains the most energy-poor continent.
He described the capital retreat as a direct threat to development and industrialisation.
“Even as global energy demand continues to expand, international capital markets and traditional development finance institutions are steadily retreating from African oil and gas projects under the agenda of accelerated global decarbonisation — a retreat that has left, by industry estimates, over 150 essential projects stalled across our continent.
“This capital retreat comes at a precarious moment for a continent faced with energy poverty despite accounting for less than three per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.
According to him, Africa today stands at an unprecedented crossroad as the continent is endowed with extraordinary hydrocarbon potential, much of it still undiscovered, undeveloped, or stranded.
He cited the underexplored basins stretching from the Gulf of Guinea and the MSGBC Basin in the west, to the deepwater frontiers off Namibia, and the emerging acreages of the East African Rift and the Congo Basin.
With all those, Falade said Africa holds more than 125 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves and upward of 620 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves.
Despite that endowment, he noted that Africa attracts only about six per cent of global upstream capital, describing the gap as the continent’s single largest opportunity.
“Yet, despite this geological abundance, our share of global exploration spending and upstream capital deployment remains disproportionately low at ~six per cent. This gap between endowment and investment is the single largest opportunity before us at this conference,” he stated.
He said Africa produces about eight million barrels of crude daily but refines barely half, spending over $60 billion annually on fuel imports, while close to 600 million citizens of the region live without electricity and nearly a billion still cook with wood and charcoal.
Falade framed Nigeria’s experience as proof that indigenous-led growth can fill part of the gap.
He admitted that following divestments by the international oil companies (IOCs), Nigerian independents now contribute more than 50 per cent of national crude and gas output, up from less than three per cent three decades ago.
Specifically, he pointed out that about 200,000 bpd have been added to national production by just three operators in the last 12 months.
He credited that to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, local content enforcement, and President Bola Tinubu’s executive orders. He added that indigenous firms also now account for over 60 per cent of domestic gas utilisation, supported by expanded refining including the 650,000 bpd Dangote Refinery.
“This is a clear demonstration of what happens when we finally refine what we produce: fuel imports fall, foreign exchange is preserved, jobs are created, and Nigeria is steadily moving from being a net importer of refined products toward becoming a net exporter”, Falade stated.
However, he cautioned that ownership comes with responsibility, saying every barrel and every molecule of gas now under IPPG members’ control comes with an obligation — to invest for the long term, to operate at the highest level of social and environmental responsibility and good governance, and to prove we can deliver lasting value.
To counter the financing deficit, Falade put forward five urgent actions, among which, he said, was to back the Africa Energy Bank, which is a joint initiative by the African Petroleum Producers Group (APPO) and Afreximbank.
Headquartered in Abuja with $5 billion initial capital, the energy bank aims for $10 billion in phase one and $15 billion by 2030.
“The AEB is purpose-built to bridge the upstream and midstream financing gap left by traditional global financiers. This is Africa’s clearest statement yet that we intend to finance our own hydrocarbon future”, the IPPG chair said.
He noted that the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that Africa needs over $200 billion annually in energy investment to 2030 but currently mobilises just over half.
On the second approach, he called for massive gas infrastructure build-out, pointing out Africa has under 50,000 kilometres of gas pipelines compared to Europe’s 200,000 km despite being three times larger.
He warned that reserves without pipelines were simply stranded molecules benefiting no one.
Thirdly, he urged deepening the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) to create regional value chains.
Fourth, he said renewables and gas must be deployed together; and fnally, called for capacity building as a contractual standard in all new upstream deals in order to develop the next generation of oil and gas talent.
Falade closed with a direct appeal to stakeholders, especially governments and regulators for fiscal stability, faster permits and contract sanctity, assuring that the operators will in turn give back barrels, molecules and revenue.
He said: “To the government representatives: give us. To financiers and insurers: price African risk on evidence, not on narrative. The operational record of the African independent now speaks for itself. To our international partners: the divestment era is not an exit. It is an invitation to a new kind of partnership.
“We are not asking for permission to pollute. We are asserting the right to develop. A continent responsible for three per cent of emissions, holding nine per cent and eight per cent of oil and gas reserves respectively, and containing 60 per cent of the world’s best solar resource, does not need to choose between hydrocarbons and renewables.”
